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Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

This has been quite a difficult week for me, so forgive me if some of the six things are quite little things. But it’s even more important in the bad weeks to try and find the good, so…

  1. I got the first lot of edits of The Sisterhood finished and returned to my editor. With any luck, the second edits should be fairly minor, and all will be on target for publication in June.
  2. It looks like the cuts to disability benefits which were announced this week are going to be reconsidered after a lot of protesting, which is wonderful.
  3. I have been making arrangements for the Easter holidays, where I am hopefully going to be seeing various wonderful people. What’s more, they are wonderful people who also understand that my health is very poor at the moment and I know they will be supportive if I can’t do a lot.
  4. Splendid Son has not been having a particularly good week, either, but he has felt able to talk to me about it and I think I’ve managed to help him feel a bit better about it.
  5. He also informed me that lobsters can be hermaphrodites, with half of the lobster male and half female – and that the different sides can be different colours. This is immensely pleasing, and something I did not know.
  6. I got an unexpected bit of praise for something I wrote a few years ago, which was very nice.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

  1. Novella out today – hurray hurray hurray! My novella, Loving My Lady has been republished by eXcessica today. It’s the first long lesbian Regency story I wrote, and although it’s a few years old now, I’m still rather fond of it.
  2. I also signed a contract this week for an anthology of three stories to come out later this year with Nine Star Press, so look out for an interesting selection of gay erotica at some point. Lots of edits to do first, but I’m really pleased to be working with the company – they seem both friendly and very professional, which is an excellent combination.
  3. This week was lovely because I had a friend staying until Wednesday. I haven’t been as well as I might have been, so we didn’t exactly do a lot, but much fun was had nonetheless, and it was really excellent to spend time with her.
  4. I had a parent consultation with Splendid Son’s teacher this week, in which I was informed that he’s doing extremely well at school and on target to exceed expectations in his main subjects, which is very pleasing. Best of all, though, the teacher was very pleased about his love of learning, which I hope he will keep throughout his life.
  5. After a massive upset with my editing and computers last week (one broke, and the temporary replacements failed to allow me to edit my novel), I am back on track with a new-to-me laptop and am two thirds of the way through the first round of edits on The Sisterhood, which is excellent. (The fact that I am two thirds of the way through is excellent; I don’t speak for the quality of the novel itself, though I don’t think it’s too bad, actually.) And look – it’s being trailed on Amazon already 🙂
  6. I’ve finished the first draft of another of the novellas which have been occupying my mind since January. That’s two now completed, and I have quite a lot more writing on the subject of the characters as well. It’s a case of working out how to put it together which is occupying my mind at the moment – or those bits of my mind not taken up with everything else I’m doing, anyway!

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

  1. I got an acceptance of a story/possible short anthology this week, which is very exciting. Still working on the details so I can’t say more than that, but it’s lovely news.
  2. Meanwhile, the edits have come through for The Sisterhood so I’m going to be working manically on that for the next couple of weeks. It looks like there might be a publication date of June or thereabouts – I’ll keep you posted on that one!
  3. Although I’ve not been feeling at my brightest and best, I’ve managed to get quite a lot done without leaving bed for all that long. Which has a pleasing sense of achievement to it!
  4. I also finalised arrangements with a very good friend about her coming to visit at the end of next week (hurrah!) and confirmed with some other good friends that Splendid Son and I are hoping to visit them over the Easter holidays as well. I find People-in-general a bit terrifying as I’m somewhat socially awkward, but specific people (who know about my weirdnesses and make allowances) are a very different matter so I’m feeling quite bouncy!
  5. Oh, still ploughing on with my contemporary gay threesome story. I’m still not entirely sure how it’s going to pan out in terms of whether it wants to be a novel, a set of novellas, or something else entirely, but I’m just going with it at the moment and writing what seems to need to be written. I’ll worry about the details in due course, I’m sure. (But they’re lovely. I do love these characters particularly much. I don’t know why, but I do.)
  6. I braved visiting the doctor to talk about medication woes. The brief version is that I’m going to have to continue for another month with my current medicine in the hope that things may improve. But I’m glad to have been and checked (he seemed to think it was reasonable to have done so, too). It’s not something I enjoy doing (I usually take someone with me because I find it that difficult, but owing to Reasons that wasn’t possible on this occasion) so I feel I can give myself credit for having done it.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

  1. My sister, niece and nephew were down staying locally for a few days at the beginning of the week. It was extremely splendid to see them!
  2. I have got the first draft of my latest article for Jane Austen’s Regency World finished this week – it’s about men who live off other people’s money…
  3. Lovely Partner, who has been feeling unwell ever since we came back from Berlin at the beginning of the month, is finally feeling a bit better, which is good news.
  4. My (lesbian regency) novella, Loving My Lady, is due to be published by eXcessica next month, and the cover design has just been completed! It’s gorgeous – look! (I’m just checking the cover artist’s details and will link to her when possible.)cover2
  5. I’ve  finished the first draft of one of the novellas I’ve been writing over the last month or so. I’m having second thoughts about one of them – I’d envisaged a set of three – but it’s good to have one finished.
  6.  Splendid Son and I went to see a friend of mine with two small boys. We had a great time, and he was ever so good with the little ones!

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

1.  I had a really lovely time with my friends last weekend. It was so lovely to see them.

2. I’ve got the first draft of my article on Black Georgians written. (To put this into context, I don’t mean the country close to Russia, nor the State of America, but the Georgian Period in Britain.) It stems out of a lot of the research I did for The Sisterhood, so it was good to put the newly found knowledge to good use!

3. Splendid Son passed his tenor horn exam (Grade 2), which is really pleasing. He’s been practising hard, so it’s good to know it paid off.

4. I’m still managing to sell knitting, though I’m behind on a commissioned piece at the moment. (Christmas preparation has gone into mass production and I’m somewhat stressed about it all.)

5. Exciting Christmassy parcels and cards are arriving, which is lovely! I feel very popular (and also very guilty for failing at cards this year. I failed at cards last year, too…).

6. I went out in the evening with Lovely Partner on Thursday! This was the first time I’ve been out with him and not Splendid Son from home (we went out together when we were on holiday in Bath for a couple of days) for over a year, I think! We met some of the excellent people he fences with (swords, not gardens) and I managed sociability without making too much of an idiot of myself, I think. (Social gatherings are not my best thing.)

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

 

1. I have friends staying, and it is marvellous! So far, I have drunk too much and tried to feed them things they don’t like/aren’t able to eat, but they seem to like me anyway 🙂

2. I finished and posted a couple of knitting commissions this week, and have another commission to fulfil. Hurrah!

3. And I am still writing like someone who is writing a lot of the time. I’m still not sure what amount is publishable, but I don’t think practising writing will ever be a bad thing to be doing.

4. I’ve also got involved with a Christmas-related community online, in which people say what they would like to have for Christmas, and if you can help, you do. I am writing a couple of flash fiction stories for that, too.

5. I went out for a meal with Splendid Son and my parents on Tuesday, which was excellent. It was to celebrate my mother’s birthday, as she’d been travelling on her actual birthday, which isn’t exactly the most exciting way to spend the day. And the food was very nice.

6. I have just generally felt quite cheerful this week. The house is in chaos and there are lots of things I should have done, or haven’t done, or (quite probably) forgotten about, but it’s not bothering me in the same way just now. It’s a good feeling!

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

 

1. My sister was down for a couple of days at the beginning of the week. It was excellent to meet up and have a chat 🙂

2. I seem to have made what is to me a surprising discovery: if I take painkillers to deal with my pain issues, it greatly improves my mood as well. Other people may not find this as surprising as I do – Splendid Son clearly didn’t, as we had the following exchange (apologies to those who have read it elsewhere, but it bears repeating!):
Me: “I’m not in much pain and I’m feeling much happier than I have been lately!”

Splendid Son: “That’s like saying ‘I’ve put on trousers and now I don’t feel so naked.'”

Well, obvious or not, it’s extremely pleasing!

3. I’m still writing lots. Including some things which may well be publishable. And I’m doing lots of research into what to write for which markets next, which is quite fun.

4. I’m feeling well enough to go to the football today (Charlton Athletic), which is pleasing as I feared I might not be. I’m going with my father rather than son today – Splendid Son, Lovely Partner, my mother and a couple of SS’s friends are all going to the pantomime (all together now: “OH NO THEY AREN’T!”) so everyone will be happy. Dad and I have never liked panto very much, but we do like football 🙂

5.  The US’s Thanksgiving has meant that my Facebook has been overwhelmed with people writing about things they’re grateful for. It has been a lovely explosion of good things!

6. Splendid Son has a horn exam next Wednesday. I have promised him a week off practising afterwards. Little does he know that I have promised MYSELF a week off nagging him to practise 🙂 He’s been very good, but I can hardly wait!

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

Well, this has been another trying week. I do have non-trying weeks, I promise! Nevertheless, there are always good things to find.

  1. I finished and submitted The Sisterhood! Which is very exciting, and a big relief.

2. I had lost a book I’ve been wanting to read for weeks, and I finally found it yesterday. This is probably more pleasing than it has any right to be.

3. Unfortunately, due to a lot of terrible things, one after another, I had to pull out of a weekend I’d promised to attend. This, obviously, is not at all good – but the organisers were wonderfully supportive and understanding about it and that makes such a big difference! Much gratefulness to them for that.

4. Both of my cats are being really cuddly at the moment. It’s probably because it’s colder and I’m nice and warm, but whatever the reason it’s much appreciated. (I like to think that it’s because they know I need cuddles, but you know. I’m a soppy cat owner. It’s probably the heat thing.)

5. My humans are also being wonderful. I have a great support system, you know? Sometimes life is pretty grim, and that’s just how it comes. But having the right people around me means that I know things will get better again. From the people I live with to the people I know only through Facebook – you’re all brilliant.

6. I was interviewed for ‘Kent Life’ magazine a while back. It turns out that the text (not, thankfully, the picture!) is now online.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

1. My sister and my nephew have been down staying locally this week. SO nice to spend time with them.

2. Also, my sister and I scandalously Went To The Pub. I think it’s the first time I’ve been out to do that for… um, at least six months. Probably a lot longer. It was splendid, even if I did drink too much (both wine and water).

3. I feel mean for being pleased that Lovely Partner’s fencing clubs have stopped for the summer, but it’s very jolly having him home a bit more.

4. I’m not the speediest writer ever, but the new novel is plodding along. Next week Child has a football club, so I will try and get a bit more done then – I’m going away next Saturday (YAY!) so it would be nice to go with the knowledge that I’m well on target (which in my terms means ‘definitely ahead of target so I don’t panic’) to get the first draft completed by the end of September so I have all of October for editing.

5. And, as above, I’m going away next Saturday with Child, to stay with incredibly excellent and splendid friends! Excuse me whilst I bounce a bit just thinking about it (*bounce*)

6. I like summer. I like light evenings. I like no school. I like the laid back feel. I like summer.

Satisfied Saturday Six

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The SSS celebrates six things that have gone well, or at least okay, in the past week. It is the creation of Terry Egan, who is all things wonderful.

1. The school summer holidays have started! Six weeks of no school run, no panicked “oh no, what about your homework?” conversations and no “Mum, we need an Ancient Greek costume for tomorrow!”

2. My contract for The Sisterhood came through: a new lesbian historical romance. I haven’t finished it yet (nowhere near, to be honest!) but I got 2.5k written this week. I’m hoping to get going with it. I’m full of inspiration at the moment 🙂

3. I hit my first weight-loss goal last Tuesday. I rather suspect that I’ve drifted away from it already this week (but hey, I have a couple of days to reel myself back in) but it’s encouraging to know I CAN do it.

4. I would invite everyone to look at http://www.pledge15.org.uk and consider joining up. (There’s a twitter and a Facebook as well.) Making a little difference can sometimes make a big difference.

5. A  friend of mine inadvertently gave me the best laugh of the week on Thursday. Writing to his boss, he sent an email saying “I just want you to look a tit.” Not, you might think, the most tactful or appropriate thing of which to inform your boss (even if – or perhaps especially if – true). Unfortunately for my friend, he had intended the considerably less inflammatory “I just want you to look at it.” Oops?

6. I met Child’s teacher for next academic year on Monday, and asked him what I could do to help Child transition into a much more academically focused year. He said something along the lines of “Not much, really – give him a break so he comes back fresh.” That’s very much something I want to hear from a teacher. (The fact that Child actively WANTS to do maths over the summer is a different matter, and something I’ll just have to cope with myself!)